Displacing gear for bombs



l l l C. GROTKE oct. 9, 1945.

ISPLACING GEAR FOR BOMBS Filed July 29. 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet l Oct, 9, 1945. c. GRoTKE 2,386,680

` DISPLAQLNG GEAR FOR BoMBs Filed July 29, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 j lNvENToR Co/QJ @raf/fe ,3 BY- @MM5-AEM; 1984...,

ATTORNEYS C. GROTKE Oct. 9, 1945.

DISPLAGING GEAR FOR BoMBs Filed July 29, 1942 3 sheets-sheet s' lllulll.

www? mm E6. M/m 0mm .QV

ATTO R N EYS Patented Oct. 9, 1945 Application Iuly 29', 1942.', Serial Nb. 452,675A

12 Claims.

This invention. relates to displacingv gear. for bombs employed as an accessory to the. bomb rackslof bombing aircraft.

When bombsare released Yfrom the bomb racks of' dive bombers, the latter are usually traveling. atan angle of approximately 70 to horizontal position, and it. is necessary. to direct. the bomb as. it is.released so that it will not strikethe propeller of the aircraft. A displacing. gear. for this. purpose has been devised, including an arm of" relatively long radius pivoted within theengine cowling and a fork to engage the bomb. This structure is subject to certain disadvantages arising particularly from. the length of thearm. required to ensure clearance of the bomb from the pathv of the propeller.

It is the object of the present invention toprovide a more. compact displacing` gear for. bombs which will nevertheless accomplish the desired purpose successfully and consistentlly, thereby avoiding the dilculties heretofore encountered,

Another object of the invention is. the provision of bomb displacing. gear. which. is readily adjustable. tooperate with. bombs of. diiferent sizes. so that substitution of equipment. in aircraft is unnecessary when bombsof differentsizes are employed.

Other objectsand advantagesof. the invention will. be. apparent as it. is better understoodby reference to the following. specification. andl the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1- is a side elevation of the. device indicat` ing its position inreference to the fuselage offan aircraft;y

Fig. 2 is afront elevationshowing. a pair. of. the devices in extended position;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of.y the devices`v adjusted to engage a bomb of largerdimensions;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a.. pair of the devices adjusted as-in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevation illustratingv another. adjustment. to engagea bomb of a diffrent size.

Referring tothe drawings, 5-indicatesthe fuselage. ofY an aircraft including. the" engine.Y cowl-l ing. E.. In carrying out. the invention,.Is provide an arm] pivotedat 8 on aV suitable'fixed support' on the aircraft. behind the engine Cowling` 6'.- The armi carries-a tubular member Bf slidably. supportedthereon. Ahead I ismounted-onthe endof the. tubular. member 9- and is normallyheld. in. fixed `position bya. pin. II-vvlnich.v isv` removable. Upon removal` of. the pin, the -headl0. can. be rotated through an angle ofA 90. or; an angle-of 180@ as maybe desiredifor thepurpose hereinafterexplained. A fork.. I2. is secured; tov the. head: I0- and is.v provided at: its ends-'with notches- I3 adapted to engageY pinst I4 on. the bomb l which is releasably supported in the bombfrack. A-.spring I6 disposed between the flangel 1. andthe. end of the member alsa-source. of power toensure prompt release of the mechanism anda cushion when it is returned. The detailsv of. the bomb rack and of the releasing:

mechanism form nofpart of the present inventionand are not illustrated. When the bombf l5l is released, it will immediately drop, moving.- forwardv at the same. time under theinfluence. of.Y its momentum.

Arms I8 are pivotally secured at I9 to-the inner end of themember 9A and. are alsozpivotedlat 20 oniaxedf part of the fuselage 5; When the bombis released,- the member ilwill be carried forwardly anddownwardly andat the same time bythe action' of the arms I8 the member'9 will be caused to move along thearm 1.' to' the position indicated in dotted lines. As theA member 9. is extended, it ensuresfmovement of the bomb l5 along the path 2l. YAs the member 9 reaches its lowermost position, the bomb hasbeen'forced far enoughe away from` the fuselage to-bel outside the radius of movement of the propeller, and the bombcannot, therefore, engage the propeller asit drops from the fork and continues its descent. vThus bombs may be dropped Withoutdangerto the operator ofthe aircraft.

The fork I2y isA adapted to the diameter of a 50G-pound bomb. Frequently it is necessary to carry and discharge kbombs of 1000 or 2000 pounds, andthe-device is adjustable to permit its yuse with: such-bombswithout modification. For this purposea' web 22is pivotally mountedat 23 on each ofthe forks I2 and is normally secured by a. removable pin: 24 inthe position indicatedr in-Fig. 2 off the drawings. 24,l the-webs may be' turnedv and secured in the position indicated in-k Fig. 3. Atthefsameftime, the pins Il can be withdrawn to Ipermit rotation of the-heads: I0 througnan ang1e'of.9.0 so that the' forks are;` inr theposition indicated in Fig.

3. The: webs:` 22'-v are provided with:- notches 25.-

adapte'dzto engage pins26 on a bomb 21 ofz2000 pounds. Thus a2 pair. of the-devicesmay be adjustedand utilized: to direct. bombs of largerv size precisely as; hereinbeforedescribedg. that. is to say, when the bomb: is released it willV be guided. in itsdownward flight until it issuicientlyfclear to. avoid possiblecontact with the propeller. As indicated in Fig. 4the forks I2 may be'. slightly offsetfrom the axes of the-members- 9 to engage. the pins'. 26: of' the 2,000-pound bombfZT. When a. I1,000-poundbomb is. to be carried, the. pins H` I0. areV rotated:

arewithdrawn and the: heads through.an angle. of-"QO" so that the slots. 25A will engage'thepins. 28 on a.1,000pound bombA 29.

AS in the precedingv description, the.' bombwill, be forcedzto follow a course whichwillensure movement beyond the rangeof thapropeller.

A's` will be readily.- understoodi from the` foregoirrgdescription, the I dev-ice is compact` and.; it

Byr removing-the 'pins' failure of the device to extend to its limit andA thus assure the desired trajectory of the bombV when it is released. Moreover,'as indicated, the

device is readily adjustabe Yto engagev and direct bombs of different sizes. For use with the larger bombs, the devices are used in pairs, and as many pairs will be employed as they capacity of the aircraft permits.

the member,-means on the extension to engage a bomb, and an arm so pivoted on the aircraft and connected to the extension that. it is moved by downward movement of the extension and affects a sliding movement thereof on said member.

,157. An aircraft including a bomb displacing geaigsaid gear comprising an extensible member The invention assures the safety of the oper.-

ating personnel in so far as possibility of contact of the bombs with the propeller is concerned. The operator can execute a dive bombing maneuver with assurance that regardless of the angle of the aircraft the night of the bombs dropped cannot pass through the radius of the propeller disc.

VVarious changes may be made in the form and structure of the apparatus p without departing from the invention or sacrificing the advantages thereof.

I claim:

1. An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising a member pivoted to the aircraft, an extension slidably mounted on the member, means on the extension to engage a bomb and means to positively advance the extension when the arm moves about its pivot, including an arm connected to the extension and pivoted on a center spaced from the pivot of the member.

2. An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising an extensible member pivoted to the aircraft, a fork at the free end of said member having recesses to engage a bomb, means permitting adjustment of the fork rotatively about the axis of the extensible member, a web having a bomb-engaging recess adapted to be secured across the arms of the fork, and means to positively extend the extensible member when the latter moves about its pivot. l

3. An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising a member pivoted to the aircraft, an extension slidably mounted on said member, a fork at the free end of the extension having recesses to engage a bomb, and means to positively advance the extension when the arm moves about its pivot, including an arm connected to the extension and pivoted on a center spaced from the pivot of the member. l

'4. An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising an extensible member pivoted to the aircraft, means on the extensible portion of said member to engage a bomb, and an arm so pivoted on the aircraft and connected to the extensible member that it is moved by downward movement of the extensible member and affects an extension thereof.

5. An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising an extensible member pivoted to the aircraft, means on the extensible portion of said member to engage a bomb, and means to positively extend the extensible member when the latter moves about its pivot, including an arm pivoted to the aircraft on a center spaced from the pivot of the extensible member and so connected to the extensible member that it is moved by downward movement of the extensible member and affects an extension thereof.

6. An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising a member pivoted to the aircraft, an extension slidably mounted on pivoted to the aircraft, a fork on the free end of .said member having means to engage a bomb,

and an arm so pivoted on the aircraft and connected to the extensible member that it is moved by downward movement of the extensible member and affects an extension thereof.

8. -An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising an extensible member pivoted to the aircraft, a fork at the free endV of said member having4 means to engage a` bomb and means to positively extend the extensible member when the latter moves about its pivot, including an arm pivoted on a center spaced from the pivot of the 4extensible member, and soconnected to the extensible member that it is moved means permitting adjustment of the fork rotatively about the axis of the extensible member, and an arm so pivoted on the aircraft and con nected to the extensible member that it is moved by downward movement of the extensible member and affects an extension thereof.

10. An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising a member pivoted to the aircraft, an extension slidably mounted on said member, a fork at the free end of the extension having means to engage a bomb, and an arm so pivoted on the aircraft and connected' to the Yextension that it is moved by downward movement on the extension and affects a sliding movement thereof on said member.

l11An aircraft including a bomb displacing gear, said gear comprising a pair of extensible members pivoted to the aircraftmeans to positively extend each extensible member when the latter moves about its pivot, including an arm connected to the extensible member andpivoted on a center spaced from the pivot of the extensible member, and mechanism carried at the lend of each extensible member' including means to en gage opposite sides of a bomb to carry the same and means to engage one side ofa bomb and Vto cooperate withv the corresponding means vof the other member to carry a bomb, said mechanism being adjustable tobe used in both of said manners.

12. An aircraft including a bombA ,displacing gear, Said gear comprising a pair of extensible memberskpivoted to the aircraft, means to positivelyfvextend the extensible members Ywhen the latter move about their pivots including an arm for each extensiblemember so pivoted on the aircraft and connected toits extensible member that it is moved by downward movement of such extensiblermember and affects an extension thereof, and mechanism`carried `at the end of each extensible member including means to engage opposite sides of av bomb to carry'the same and means to engage one side of aV bomb and. to cooperate withpcorresponding means of the other member to carry a bomb, said mechanism being adjustable to be used in 'both of said manners.

-CHARmss GROTKE. 

